'Large Black Bat' with 'Pronounced Arms and Legs' Seen in Chicago During Solar Eclipse

Manuel Navarette of UFO Clearinghouse recently received a report from a witness who claimed to have seen a "large black bat" with "humanoid features" on the southern end of Northerly Island in Chicago during Monday's solar eclipse.  The sighting occurred Monday at approximately 1:15 p.m., which would have been just before the moon reached near totality in that area.

I am a little skeptical of reporting what happened but after reading and researching the sightings that have been happening in Chicago I am a little more confident that I will not be seen as insane. 

This happened on August 21st 2017 at approximately 1:15 p.m. (Central Time) and the location is just off of South Linn White Drive on the southern end of Northerly Island in Chicago, Illinois. I was there with two of my friends and we were there to watch the eclipse that was going to happen over Chicago at about 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon. We showed up approximately an hour and a half early to set up equipment to photograph and to observe the eclipse. We were watching and observing as the moon begin its transit when we heard a very loud scream. This sounded like squeaky truck brakes that squeal when you’re pressing hard on them. At first we thought that’s what it was...maybe a CTA bus or big truck with brakes that needed changing or maintenance.

We heard it again, this time it lasted about 3 seconds, where as the previous sound was brief. I looked up to see a large object flying low over the docks that stick out in to Burnham Harbor from across the water. We were on the east side of the island facing west across the water on the parking lot and can see the docks that line the harbor on the opposite sure. This object looked like a large black bat, but also had humanoid features such as pronounced arms and legs.

It was flying along the edge of the docks near the open water and was maybe 6 or 7 ft above the water surface. We saw it fly over most of the docks and then cut a hard left headed toward Soldier Field. We did see it gain altitude as it went over Campus Drive and then toward Soldier Field. The entire sighting lasted about a minute and a half from the time we saw it to the time it cut left and went toward the field. All three of us saw it and all three of us were sober and not hallucinating. I am pretty confident that other people saw it because most of the island was filled with people there to see the eclipse. There were also multiple people driving around the museum campus, which is always a very busy spot in the city.

I asked that you please take this sighting very seriously as it was very disturbing to us to see this object. It looked like it was something that should not be messed with, it was scary and looked like it could rip somebody to shreds if it wanted to. This creature had to be about 6 maybe 7 ft tall, having to guess because it was in flight when we saw it. The wings were ginormous and had to be at least 6 feet wide when we saw them. You could tell that the wings were catching air because there was a wave motion as this creature glided along.

When it banked to the left it flapped its wings at least 3 or 4 times to gain altitude over the drive. It did look like it had a small tail from what we could see and that the feet ended in what look like claws or talons. We did not seen many features of the face as it was flying and might have been looking away from us, but of course we could not tell because we were in absolute shock. I do not know what else to compare it to as it was larger than most birds I’ve ever seen and that includes many of the eagles that I grew up with in Alaska. In fact this thing put many of them to shame in size.

It might not be of any consequence, but right after the sighting there was a decidedly audible hum that was lingering in the area for about 30 minutes. The hum stopped after about a half-hour because we hung around for at least another hour to observe the eclipse and to see if we could possibly get another view of whatever this thing was.

Well, that is my report. I hope to not sound like a complete imbecile but I do know that what we saw was real flesh and blood and was quite scary as Hell. Thank you for your time and attention to this. I sincerely appreciate it.

Navarette was able to interview the witness at length, and is convinced that the report is not a hoax.

"Contact was made with the witnesses and an extensive conversation was held," said Navarette.  

The witness who reported the sighting and her friend both stated that this creature was solid black and reminded them of the harpies in the movie Clash of the Titans. She did state that it had two arms and two legs and both seem to be tipped with talons. The witness stated that the only lingering effect was a loud hum that was heard by everybody. The witnesses stated that the creature was flapping its wings and that it made a sound that sounded like squeaky brakes. When given the chance to add to the story or embellish it in anyway the witnesses stuck to the original story. It is the investigators opinions that these witnesses are being genuine and that they did see something and are not hoaxing any of the story.

When asked why no pictures were taken of the creature, the witnesses explained that they had affixed special lenses to their camera equipment to capture the eclipse.  The lenses were far too heavily tinted to be capable of taking a picture of something under normal lighting conditions, and it would have taken too much time to remove them.

Northerly Island is a small island in Lake Michigan connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land, and is home to the Adler Planetarium.  This area in particular has had several sightings since the beginning of the recent flap, which were reported on here, here, and here.

This sighting is the latest in a string of flying humanoid sightings in the Chicago area.  Most of the sightings have taken place near the lakefront within a few miles of Lake Michigan, although there are some starting to come from the suburbs surrounding Chicago.  The sightings generally take place in the evening or at night, often in or near a park and around water, and witnesses consistently describe a large, bat or bird-like creature with humanoid features; although in one case the creature was reportedly "insect-like." 

To report a sighting, reach out to us directly at The Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.

You can view a timeline of the sightings so far here, and an interactive map here.